Morels make me sick, why???

denglish at iastate.edu (Doug English) wrote:
>Hi,
> There must be some subscribers to this group who live up north and
>hunt mushrooms this time of year. Twice this year I've had fresh morels from
>the local woods and both times I became violently ill. 4-6 hours after
>ingestion I started a slight fever and completely purged my digestive system,
>vomiting and diarrhea, and was unable to keep even water down. Obviously this
>is either an allergic reaction or food poisioning. I have eaten morels many
>times in the past and never had any problem. The only difference is in the
>past I had soaked the mushrooms in salt water to kill the little critters and
>get the sand and dirt out. Is this a crucial step in de-toxifying these
>fungi? I know of at least one store in Minneapolis that sells fresh morels
>and they don't seem to specify any prep procedures and I have even heard of
>people eating them raw. What gives? Have I developed some allergy to this
>particular mushroom? One other thing, I have actually read on
>one occasion that some people react badly to these mushrooms. Any ideas out
>there?
>Thanks,
> Doug
I'm glad you brought up the subject. I know it goes against popular
wisdom but I suspect "something gives" with morels. Both my stepfather
and a lab instructer I know get very ill when they eat morels .
Niether gets sick from any other kind of edible wild mushroom . This
can't just be "chance". Especially now with your report I'm more than
ever convinced that there is something specific about them that causes
this. As well. my stepdad says he used to eat them all time until this
happened. I think this deserves a closer look.